Knott Rigg and Ard Crags

Monday 17th April 2006

The weather at the start of this walk was cloudy, drizzly and very blustery, and although this was not the norm for the day, strong winds persisted throughout to the detriment of the walk, however I still enjoyed it. After surrounding myself in waterproofs I left Honister Hause and headed straight up the hillside to Dale Head where the wind was very strong and clouds surrounded giving me no view. I had originally planned on exploring the Gable Crag below the summit but I had already scratched that idea; the bad weather I found at the top had made this a certainty. After a peer over the edge, I headed off along Hindscarth Edge, only to have the cloud part as I was making my way across and the sun started shining. With Dale Head behind me now, basking in the sun, I decided to take advantage of the unexpectedly clear weather and divert onto Hindscarth where I took loads of pictures of Dale Head and the Newlands valley.

Returning to the edge I headed over to Robinson, but without stopping I descended the steep slope on the other side down to Buttermere Moss. Crossing the marshy ground only as far as Moss Beck I followed the stream to the top of Moss Force, and down the path to Newlands Hause. While I was descending the clouds darkened and soon it started hailing heavily. Ahead of me was a man in ordinary clothes getting very wet as he headed up the path towards me whose objective was clearly the mother and young girls who had emerged onto the moss moments before I started my descent. The family had already begun to return to the road once the rain had started, but the father, clearly concerned for his family, had started following them up at the same time. I found this rather bizarre, even if understandable, behaviour. The family had coats so they were reasonably okay, but the father must have got soaked after meeting them halfway up and coming down with them. All he achieved was to get dangerously soaked to the skin. I don't really understand people...

Once at the road, and with the rain still falling, I began my ascent of Knott Rigg. The rain soon stopped but the wind continued at full strength as I struggled up the ridge, which made it extremely difficult to just walk, let alone in a straight line. After a considerable amount of effort battling against the wind I managed to gain the summit and passing over I aimed for the higher summit of Ard Crags. My original plan (here we go again, I really should have planned this holiday better) was to descend from the summit of Ard Crags to the top of Rigg Beck and to take the path up to Sail Pass and over Sail to Eel Crag. After wearing myself out battling against the wind simply getting up Knott Rigg, the idea of walking all the way up to Eel Crag in this wind did not appeal to me. So another plan went down the drain.

Passing beyond the top of Ard Crags I found a sheltered spot and had my lunch. Away from the wind it was a really nice day, with patchy high clouds and a bright sun. From my sheltered spot I began to wonder what the problem was, however I found out as soon as I stood up! Descending over Aikin Knott I dropped down to Rigg Beck and began my long journey to Buttermere. Ordinarily I would never have walked through this valley and I would have missed this fine path. The narrow path climbs through the v-shaped valley maintaining a point part way up the northern bank and is always interesting hugging the contours all the way up to the top of the pass and then slowly descends above Sail Beck. I had enormous fun on this path and above all I was on my own, which wouldn't have been the case if I had gone up to the top of the fells.

Eventually I arrived in Buttermere and came to the youth hostel, which is a little too family-oriented for me and I felt that it is a pity the way many youth hostels are becoming more family-oriented and not just for walkers, but I suppose it is understandable economically. Anyway, this was a good day's walk even though it was very different to how I had originally planned it, again.